Activity 14: My music, your Music
Overview of the activity
How does music and song influence memory and identity? Is there music and song that are not influenced by other places? This exercise explores the origins and influence of musical heritage and song in forming complex identities.
Objectives
- Reflect on migration and heritage through music and song.
- Think about how music is a place of migration and change and at the same time generates and reinforces identities.
- Find confluences in the different songs of the world, their history and our personal memory
| Duration (in minutes) | Min/max number of participants | Room/space requirements |
| 30 minutes |
|
This activity can be done both indoors and outdoors. |
Instructions
- Begin with eyes closed. Each participant should think of some music (songs, chants, melodies, rhythms) that reminds them of three places: where they were born, where they live now and the place where one of their grandparents was born. Leave 5 minutes for them to internalize and think calmly about the three music excerpts.
- Then, in groups of three, participant A must use their body (clapping, whispering, whistling or humming without words) to briefly describe each of the three music excerpts to participants B and C. Then participant B will do the same to A and B, and so forth. Participants should not use words.
- The three participants must then create a song together using the different rhythms presented (in total, nine rhythms): the song must have an introduction, a chorus and an ending.
- Once all participants have done the exercise, bring the whole group back together and ask each group to present their song. Ask the other participants to name the places they feel were present in the song.
- Once all the groups have performed their song, ask each participant to explain to the whole group the three places they chose.
- When all the participants have spoken, conclude the activity with a discussion about heritage and migration focused on music (see Evaluation).
Learning outcomes / evidence collected
The songs can be recorded using mobile phone audio or video recording.
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This activity works best with Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers, Firefox may report a problem with the microphone.
To evaluate the outcomes of the activity, have a discussion around these questions:
- Can we find similarities in the different songs?
- Is it easy to know the origin of a song?
- Is music always migratory?
- How do songs influence memory and identity?
- Are there songs without influences from other places?
- What elements drew participants to think of one place or another?
- What makes a song from a particular place?
- How is music used to exclude? And to include?
Questions for self-reflection in the teaching practice
In what way is migration present in your life and in the life of the people you worked with in this activity? Does the topic of migration raise emotions among the groups you work with? Does working with musical heritage bring out the emotional dimensions of heritage more intensely? In what way? Are there heritage objects, sites or practices in your current context that you feel might bring you closer to your groups, or that might be useful to talk about the emotions related to migration within your groups?
